Walgreens Contact Lens review

Walgreens has been a household name for more than 100 years and contact lenses are a natural extension to the offering.

Our Verdict

Walgreens still relies on coupons and offers to provide you with the best discounts, and when combined with the contact lens rebate system, this makes pinning down your regular prices a difficult task. If you value reliability and pedigree over style, gimmicks and price, Walgreens is a solid choice.

For

Backed up by nearly 10,000 stores

Free shipping

Complimentary eye care range

Against

No subscriptions

Higher prices

Walgreens has been a household name for more than 100 years, and over that time has turned its hand to most things medical. Contact lenses are a natural extension to the offering, and there’s a comprehensive online presence.

The website’s professional and traditional, as you would expect and there’s a big focus on coupons and TV ads. If you get a relevant coupon you can save a decent chunk, so keep your thrifty eyes open. Prices are in line with competitors, without ever quite hitting rock bottom. They offer their own medical insurance, and take FSA and HSA cards for qualifying lenses. All contact lens orders receive free shipping, and there’s a range of payment options. Subscriptions are not supported. Traditional bricks and mortar service, with a very serviceable website, combine to make this one of the best online contact lenses options, albeit close to the bottom of the pile.

Walgreens Contact Lens review: Price and offers

Walgreens offers free shipping on all contact lenses and the company's size means you’re pretty sure they’ll have your order in stock and ready to go. Prices aren’t sky-high, but they’re certainly not the lowest out there (check out AC Lens for that). Walgreens is trading on its reliable name in the business, not on crazy-low bargains. It has its own medical insurance, which sadly doesn't rank among our picks of the best vision insurance companies, and of course take HAS and FSA cards for qualifying medical lenses.

As you’d expect from a long-established high-street chain, there is a heavy emphasis on coupons and time-limited offers to tie in with ad campaigns. Combined with the contact lens world’s system of rebates, this can make prices difficult to pin down and sometimes variable. Walgreens is super-reliable, has a huge range and if you’re happy to clip those virtual coupons, is very competitive on price.

Walgreens Contact Lens review: Features and website

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Walgreens’ reputation in the pharmaceutical supply business is well earned, and it’s clearly plugged in to informing you about the ins and outs of its niche. There is an extensive page about what qualifies for FSA funding, the advice page has a ton about wearing contacts, buying contacts, storing contacts, the list goes on and on. Walgreens is knowledgeable and helpful, just like your friendly local pharmacist, and we'd recommend them over Lenscrafters if you're looking for an in-store/online combination for your contact lens needs.

The site looks good, lots of white space and good advice, but scroll down and you’ll find the attractive graphics soon dissolve into slabs and slabs of uninterrupted text. There are two reasons that this might happen. Firstly, there is a lot of info and advice which is really useful and really welcome. But splitting the text over multiple, shorter pages would be clearer and wouldn’t be as in-you-face if you’re just buying a repeat order. Secondly, the range is huge and pretty graphics for every product would lead to a front page the length of a football field. Again, some creative thinking could probably find a better solution to this than something that looks like the index to an encyclopaedia.

To complement your lenses, there’s a really good range of eye care products and accessories, alongside some related items I haven’t seen elsewhere. As a wearer of contact lenses, Walgreens has your everyday necessities like eye drops, cleaning solutions and storage cases, much like 1800 Contacts and Discount Contact Lenses. But it also has a range of vitamins and supplements specifically chosen to support eye-health. Most vitamins and dietary supplements only have anecdotal outside of actual deficiencies, but it might be something to give yourself an extra degree of reassurance if you’re worried about your optical health.

(Image credit: Walgreens)

Should I use Walgreens Contact Lens site?

Walgreens is a familiar name, and a reliable brand with a track record of supporting family health. Its transition from bricks-and-mortar store hasn’t been seamless, but it has done a pretty good job. It still relies on coupons and offers to provide you with the best discounts, and when combined with the contact lens rebate system, this makes pinning down your regular prices a difficult task. The site is quite wordy, but those words are often sound advice and useful information. Walgreens takes FSA and HSA cards, and has the knowledge and connections to advise you about your FSA eligible spend. If you value reliability and pedigree over style, gimmicks and price, Walgreens is a solid choice.